By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, showing none of the ill-effects of  surgery on his left wrist to remove a fractured and rotten bone and an eleven month layoff, silenced his critics with a spectacular 7th round demolition of  tough and talented Indonesian super bantamweight champion Marangin “Dinamita” Marbun before an enthusiastic crowd at the plush Pacific Ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel, Friday.  

It was one of Bautista’s most impressive performances in a promising career that was setback by unexpected defeats which, unknown to all,  was caused by a wrist injury that resulted in excruciating pain whenever he used his left. It was only after a thorough medical examination following a disappointing eighth round unanimous decision loss in his last fight against Mexico ’s Heriberto Ruiz that doctors discovered a fracture in Bautista’s left wrist.

After a piece of bone taken from his hip was grafted onto his wrist to replace the bone that was removed, specialists gave the young fighter from Candijay, Bohol the green light to resume training after weeks of therapy.

Bautista showed he was as good as new when he blocked out any mental reservations by cracking the hard-hitting Marbun with stinging lefts throughout the bout which ended in round seven after Bautista cracked Marbun with a vicious left and followed up with a right that sent the Indonesian fighter sprawling across the ring and flat on his back.

Internationally respected referee Bruce McTavish stopped the count at four and waived the fight off when he realized that Marbun was out cold. Doctors quickly jumped into the ring and administered oxygen to the badly hurt Indonesian champion who recovered a few minutes later and didn’t even realize that he had been blasted out and the fight was over.

It was by no means a one-sided fight for the WBC interim featherweight title once held by the illustrious “Hero of Asia” Manny Pacquiao, as Marbun often engaged Bautista and used a solid right hook to hurt Bautista several times in the exciting, action-packed main event.

Bautista looked sharp as early as the opening round but was given a warning by McTavish for a second low blow in round two. Bautista cracked Marbun with a left hook in round three that rocked the Indonesian who was sent reeling across the ring but he recovered quickly and came charging back with some solid blows of his own.

Bautista dropped Marbun with a left-right combination as he caught him on the ropes and then hurt him again in round five but as always the Indonesian fought back ferociously and hurt Bautista.

Marbun had his best round in the sixth when he fought back courageously and engaged Bautista in a toe-to-toe battle and hurt the 23 year old Filipino  time and again as he pounded him with a thunderous right hook.

Bautista later admitted that the Indonesian had hurt him beginning as early as round one. Marbun who had won seven and drawn one of his last eight fights proved a worthy opponent and a genuine test for Bautista and his handlers led by respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer and his son Michael who were clearly pleased by their hopeful’s impressive comeback and can now look to regaining his rightful place in the world rankings.

Spurred on by the crowd as Games and Amusements Board chairman Eric Buhain, Commissioner Angel Bautista and Boxing Division chief Dr. Nasser Cruz watched intently, the Candijay, Bohol  native whose farmer parents were at ringside, Bautista attacked relentlessly and nailed Marbun with a thunderous left followed by a right which ended a gallant stand by the Indonesian champion in the seventh round.

With the win Bautista improved to 27-2 with 20 knockouts while Marbun fell to 19-6-1 with 7 knockouts.

The fight card was telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN over Studio 23 as well as its global network The Filipino Channel and was also beamed “live” to Thailand beginning with the ten round clash between 17 year old lightweight Jason Pagara and rugged and menacing-looking Thai Decha Bankluaygym (Kokietgym).    

Pagara was in control of the fight much of the way behind a solid left jab and excellent combinations but Decha worked the inside with a vengeance and when Pagara decided to trade punches in the final round he nearly paid the price as the solidly-built Thai rocked him with a series of hard overhand rights that had Pagara clinging on for dear life.

Pagara staggered across the ring several times in the last minute of the tenth round and appeared to be on the verge of being knocked out but he managed to hang-on before the final bell mercifully sounded to save him from a stunning KO loss.

Pagara had done enough to win on the scorecards of all three judges.  Edgar Olalo scored it 96-93, Noel Flores 96-94 and Salven Lagumbay 97-93 all for Pagara who improved to 20-1 with 10 knockouts while Decha dropped to 29-10-3 with 16 knockouts.

In two other major bouts Czar Amonsot (20-3-1, 11 KO’s)  was disappointing in a unanimous decision ten round win over Congo’s unorthodox Jesus Singwancha who fights out of Thailand. The Filipino southpaw hardly showed a glimpse of the fire that earned him international acclaim in a bloody brawl with reigning world champion Michael Katsidis although the three judged , Edward Ligas 96-94, Edwin Barrientos 97-93 and Tony Pesons 98-92 had him a comfortable winner.

Youngster Marjohn Yap, facing the biggest test of his fledgling career against WBO world title challenger, Thai veteran Pramuansak Posuwan who lost in a clash for the vacant title against Jose “Carita’ Lopez of Puerto Rico who in turn lost the crown to Filipino southpaw “Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona in Ontario, Canada last September 4 scored a 10th round TKO over Posuwan who suffered excruciatingly painful cramps at 22 seconds into the round and had to unfortunately retire.

At the time of the stoppage Yap who appeared nervous but connected with some good one-two combinations  was ahead on the scorecards of Edgar Olalo 87-84 and Edward Ligas 86-85 but was behind on the card of Salven Lagumbay who had Posuwan ahead 86-85.